


We Should Have Noticed

by flowing_river



Series: Why did you leave me? [1]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Nightmares, Past Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Scars, Spoilers for Season 4, Whump, You know who it is if you watched the season 3 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22622908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowing_river/pseuds/flowing_river
Summary: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4!!!"Mac is different. That’s the first thing Riley notices about him. He’s more aggressive and angry and his eyes are pained. She thought it would do him good to be away from their dangerous life, but clearly she was wrong."After the mission, Mac invites them all over to him house. But something is different about him. And will the team be able to figure out why?
Relationships: Angus MacGyver & Matilda "Matty" Webber (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Riley Davis & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Wilt Bozer & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Why did you leave me? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645099
Comments: 20
Kudos: 122





	We Should Have Noticed

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I couldn't resist writing this after yesterdays episode...btw if you want to chat about it feel free to shoot me a message on tumblr (@flowing-river24) or talk to me in the comments

Mac is different. That’s the first thing Riley notices about him. He’s more aggressive and angry and his eyes are pained. She thought it would do him good to be away from their dangerous life, but clearly she was wrong. He looks somehow worse than he did as soon as Charlie died.

Mac invites them all over to his house after the mission is over. His house is a mess, with papers strewn all over the floor and random, half finished things lying around everywhere. Mac surprises her by going straight to his fridge and pulling out a bottle of beer and taking a large sip of it. He moves to the couch and continues taking large sips until the bottle is done.

The rest of the team joins him in the living room and looks at him with a bit of concern as he gets up and grabs another bottle and finishes it just as fast. Mac just drops the bottle on the ground and lays back on the couch and is asleep in a matter of seconds. She just stares at him.

“Does he always drink like that?” Russ’ voice interrupts her thoughts.

“No,” Bozer answers, “I’ve never seen him act like this.”

“I thought not. I’ve read his file before. He surprised me, I didn’t expect so much anger from him. I just assumed he was upset about my past.”

Riley turns back towards Mac when she hears him mumble something in his sleep. She can’t make out what he’s saying, but his face looks pained. After a few seconds he seems to relax again, so she turns her attention back to the conversation.

“-shouldn’t have let him push us away,” Bozer is saying, “I should’ve known something is wrong.”

“We can’t change that now,” Matty says with a frown, “We’ll have to keep an eye out on him.”

“I wish Jack was here,” Riley finds herself saying, “He’d know what is wrong.”

“We’ll figure it out, Riley,” Desi says.

* * *

Riley notices Mac looks like he hasn’t been sleeping well. She know him well enough to see the tiredness in his eyes and the dark circles that speak of sleepless nights. 

She asks him if he’s having nightmares and his he makes an unrecognizable expression and doesn’t offer her an answer.

She knows he still blames himself for Charlie’s death, despite everyone’s reassurance that it wasn’t his fault.

She wonders if he dreams about Charlie falling, she knows how close they were and how devastated Mac was about his death. She can’t imagine how he would feel having to watch him die like that. She has no doubt that would give anyone nightmares.

Mac never admits he has nightmares though, so all Riley can do is tell him he can talk to her anytime. He always makes a weird face whenever she brings that up, like he can’t honestly believe what she’s saying is true.

It hurts her to see that, but she doesn’t know what to do. She tries to contact Jack, but she can’t get ahold of him.

* * *

  
Mac is extremely paranoid. His eyes are always darting around and analyzing every part of the room and she notices he makes sure he always has an exit route wherever he is. 

She makes sure to always keep the doorways clear for him because he always seems calmer that way.

She knows not to sneak up on him either after that time he almost punched her when she came up behind him. It breaks her heart to see the unmasked fear in his eyes, but he shut her out when she asked if he wanted to talk about it. 

Matty, Bozer, and Desi have also noticed how different he’s acting, but he always changes the subject whenever they ask him about it.

Riley can’t figure out what’s wrong, but she wants to fix it.

* * *

  
Riley thinks Mac doesn’t trust them as much anymore. He doesn’t turn his back on them, and he doesn’t seem like he trusts them to be his backup.

And he isn’t that open with them either, he barely talks to them about anything personal anymore. It feels like those days where Riley first joined DXS and Mac was still suspicious of her because of everything that happened with Nicki.

And it hurts to know that Mac can’t trust them anymore. She wants to know why but pushing him at this point will make everything worse. So, she just makes sure he knows she’s there for him and hopes it’s enough. It isn’t.

* * *

Jack comes back 3 months after Phoenix is reinstated. He walks into the war room in the middle of a debriefing with his bag. 

He can barely drop it before she practically jumps on him and hugs him. His arms come around her and one of his hands rests at the back of her head.

She can tell that Bozer, Matty and Desi joins her, and Jack puts his arms around all of them. They don’t stay like that very long because Jack lets go and then looks at Mac.

“Hey, kid? You miss me?” Jack says, stepping close to Mac and holding his arms out.

Mac practically falls into him and clutches the back of his shirt, like it’s the only thing holding him up. She hears an anguished sob coming from him and it shatters her heart to hear so much pain from him.

She can see a bit of anger in Jack’s eyes as he gently runs his hand through Mac’s hair and murmurs soothing words to him.

She can’t tell exactly what he’s saying to him, but it succeeds in calming Mac down.

“I’m sorry,” is what Mac saying when he pulls back, still clutching Jack’s shirt in a death grip.

“There’s no reason to apologize Mac,” Jack says gently.

“You aren’t going to leave again?” Mac asks, looking at Jack with so much pain.

“I won’t. I shouldn’t’ve left in the first place. I messed up and I won’t make that same mistake again, Mac. I promise.”

* * *

Jack pulls her aside later.

“What happened?” he asks.

She tells him everything she knows, about James, about Murdoc, about Mason, and Charlie. About how Phoenix was disbanded, and they lost contact which each other for months. And about how much Mac has changed.

Jack looks pained at the amount of things Mac went without him.

“We shouldn’t have let him push us away,” Riley says, “He doesn’t even trust us anymore.”

“Oh kid,” Jack says, wrapping his arms around her, “You couldn’t’ve known what was going to happen. This is not your fault, okay?”

She knows that, but she still feels guilty.

* * *

It happens on a mission. Some sort of chemical gets poured onto Mac’s shirt and he has pull it off to avoid a reaction with his skin. And that’s when Riley sees the scars.

She can tell they aren’t that old. Long knife marks across his torso, burn scars in the shape of circles, and some surgical scars as well around his ribs.

“Mac? What happened?” asks Jack in shock and horror.

The rest of the team is staring at him in shock and worry.

Mac sighs before saying, “I have a lot of enemies. And without Phoenix, one of them caught up to me. But I’m fine now, no need to worry.”

“How long? How long did they have you?” Riley asks. She almost doesn’t want to know, but she has too. How did she miss this?

“A few weeks.”

“A few WEEKS?” Bozer asks. “And we didn’t even know? How?”

Mac shrugs, “I thought you knew. I managed to escape and after getting myself patched up, I called everyone to let them know I was fine. But it seemed like you guys didn’t even notice I was gone.”

Riley is horrified, “I’m so sorry Mac. We should’ve noticed. It was stupid of us not too. I can’t tell you how terrible I feel about this.”

“It’s okay,” Mac says, “You didn’t know.”

“That doesn’t excuse our actions,” Bozer says, “We’re your friends, we should have made sure you were okay.”

Mac shrugs and Jack snaps out of his shock to engulf him in a hug. She can hear Jack crying and saying ‘I’m so sorry kid, I shoulda been there for you’ over and over again. Mac is crying too now, so Riley and Bozer join the hug. They’re all crying about what Mac had to go through without them, but they’re with him now. And they’ll make sure he isn’t alone ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think of this!!!


End file.
